


We Need a Little Christmas

by Kirathaune



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 07:20:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17178401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirathaune/pseuds/Kirathaune
Summary: Christmas is supposed to be cheerful, right? But when they visit a town that celebrates the holiday Hakkai seems more melancholy than cheerful, and Gojyo decides he needs to fix that.





	We Need a Little Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EzraTheBlue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EzraTheBlue/gifts).



> Written as part of tumblr's [ Minekura Fan Events ](https://minekura-fan-events.tumblr.com/post/176966449457/hello-all-and-welcome-to-the-minekura-fan-events) Secret Santa 2018.

On the whole, Gojyo didn’t like snow all that much. He had to admit that the woolen parkas that Hakkai had bought them were pretty warm—much better than those stupid cloaks they’d had before—but even so, driving around in a roofless jeep in the snow was not his idea of fun.  
  
But he didn’t mind it at all when a hefty snowfall closed the mountain pass they needed to travel through; not only did they get to extend their stay at what was a pretty decent inn, but Gojyo also got to enjoy watching Sanzo get his panties in a twist when Hakkai’d told him that he wasn’t taking Jeep though the pass until it was clear.  
  
Gojyo decided that for the next couple of days, snow was all right.  
  
He’d even go so far to say that it was pretty, too, with the way the light from the street lamps and shop windows made it sparkle like diamonds. His pockets jingled with some newly-won money as Gojyo walked back to the inn along a haphazardly shoveled path, and he whistled an aimless tune while he lightly tossed a carton of cigarettes. He was so entranced by the glittering flakes of snow that he walked right into someone who was standing in front of a nearby shop window.  
  
“Oh shit! Hey, man, I’m sorry—” Gojyo blinked when the man turned around. “Hakkai? What are you doing here?”  
  
“Gojyo! I guess I could ask the same of you.” Hakkai shifted his shopping bag to his other had. “Calling it an early night?”  
  
 “Yeah, there was some good poker going on in the tavern’s back room,” Gojyo said, “and I won some, but if we’re gonna be here a few days I don’t want to scare them off by winning too much.” He noticed that Hakkai’s gaze was a little unfocused, kind of like when they were still living back at his house and Gojyo would accidentally interrupt Hakkai when he was reading. He wondered what had captured Hakkai’s attention. “What’s in that window? You were pretty focused, I bet you didn’t even hear me coming.”  
  
“I didn’t actually,” Hakkai confessed, and he turned back toward the window. “The Christmas decorations caught my eye. Isn’t the tree pretty? Look how colorful the lights are.” He reached out and ran gloved fingers over a length of pine garland that was draped around the window frame. “There’s quite a few of the shops that have decorations, but this place looks the nicest.”  
  
Gojyo stood beside him and peered inside. “It is nice. I didn’t know it was close to Christmas.”  
  
“Well, that’s understandable, since you don’t celebrate it. It’s the day after tomorrow.” Twinkling lights reflected in Hakkai’s monocle as he studied the tree. “Sometimes I miss observing it… Christmas is a cheerful holiday.”  
  
In Gojyo’s opinion Hakkai did not seem cheerful. More like melancholy, and he wondered if his friend was remembering happier times. “That’s the one with presents, right? And the fat guy in the red suit?” He had a vague understanding of most of the Christian holidays, although the one with the rabbit and the eggs was weird.  
  
Hakkai laughed. “Yes, there are presents. Remember that time, years ago, when I wanted to teach Goku about Christmas, and set up a tree?”  
  
“Yeah,” Gojyo said. “Baldy shut that down before you even finished your pitch. He didn’t want the monkey expecting presents every year.”  
  
“Well, we know how enthusiastic Goku gets when he enjoys something. I imagine Sanzo was also anticipating that Goku would want to give _him_ gifts.”  
  
Gojyo watched Hakkai’s gaze drift up to the top of the tree, where a brightly lit star perched on the topmost branches, and he noticed the slightest of smiles curve his friend’s lips.  
  
They were going to be here for at least a couple more days, which meant they’d be here through Christmas. A plan began to form in Gojyo’s mind.  
  
He wouldn’t have much time, just tomorrow to get everything together. He’d need some help.  
  
Some _enthusiastic_ help.

* * *

  
“Dude, I totally see why Sanzo didn’t want me finding out about this part of Christmas,” Goku said, his breath fogging the glass as he peered into the shop window where Gojyo and Hakkai had stood the night before. It had stopped snowing overnight, and the morning sky was a cloudless, brilliant cerulean. “All those presents and those big socks full of candy? I would have driven him insane.”  
  
“More insane,” Gojyo corrected. “And what do you mean, ‘this part?’ I thought you didn’t know about Christmas at all.”    
  
Goku shrugged. “Hakkai taught me some stuff about other religions and their holidays, and when we got to Christmas he talked about a baby, some shepherds, an angel and three guys who were really smart.”  
   
“The three wise men,” Gojyo said, remembering a similar ‘lesson.’ They left the shop and walked down the cobbled street toward the market square, where merchants were busy setting up for the day. “So, we have until tomorrow to come up with a tree and some presents, without the other two finding out about it. You got any money?”  
  
“You’re kidding, right?” Goku said. “I don’t have any money. And I don’t think we can use the gold card—Sanzo would ask what we wanted it for.”  
  
Gojyo shook his head. “Yeah, that’s right out. Okay, then, let’s split up and try and earn some money doing some odd jobs. We don’t need too much, just enough for a couple of presents and some decorations for the tree.”  
  
“Where are we gonna get a tree?”  
  
“Cut one down?” Gojyo suggested.  
  
Goku frowned. “Will they let us do that? And will the innkeeper let us have one in our room?”  
  
“We’ll worry about that later,” Gojyo said. “First, we need to make some money.” He pointed at a nearby food vendor, who was filling a clay pot oven with several long skewers of chicken. “Let’s meet back here at lunchtime and see where we are.”  
  
“Okay! See you later!” Goku bounded over toward a merchant who was struggling to unload a large wagon of supplies. A few minutes later, he was carrying three times what most men would, and the merchant smiled widely while other shopkeepers shouted to get Goku’s attention. Gojyo grinned and headed over their way; it looked like they wouldn’t need to split up after all, and with a little luck they would have no trouble getting some cash together. He still had some of his winnings from the night before, but every little bit helped.  
  
Four hours later they sat together on a bench in a nearby courtyard, stuffing their faces with flatbreads filled with grilled chicken while they warmed themselves by a large firepit that blazed in the courtyard’s center.  
  
“Thish is real good,” Goku said in between impossibly huge bites of his third—fourth?—sandwich. “Spishy, but good.”  
  
“Stop talking with your mouth full,” Gojyo said, with his mouth full, “and don’t spend all our money on lunch!” It was really good; the grilled chicken was spicy but wrapping it in the flatbread helped mellow it out.  
  
Goku swallowed. “We earned it! We worked real hard.” He took a long drink from a cup of water. “Besides, I think we did okay.” He patted his coat pocket, which jingled with coins.  
  
“Yeah, we did all right.” Gojyo had his own jingly pocket, and after they finished eating they headed for a quiet corner where they could tally up their earnings in relative privacy. They didn’t have a large sum of money, but enough to get what they needed. “One of the men told me that most people who celebrate Christmas here cut down a tree from those woods,” he said, gesturing to a dense patch of forest that rose behind the town’s shops. “We should probably get that first.”  
  
They spent the next hour trudging through thick drifts of snow into the woods, trying to find a good tree. Gojyo knew he was being picky, and he could sense Goku’s growing frustration, but he really wanted to get a tree that looked like the one in the shop window.  Finally, they came to a small grove of fir trees that looked similar. Gojyo summoned Shakujou, and was about to slice through the tree trunk when Goku caught his arm.  
  
“I feel bad about cutting down a tree just to have it for one day,” Goku said.  
  
Gojyo sighed. Goku could be very Buddhist sometimes, more than the actual Buddhist priest he traveled with. “So you don’t want to do this?”  
  
Goku flapped his hands. “I didn’t say that. Can we maybe just take the top part of the tree? Then it can keep living, it’ll just be shorter. Besides, it’ll be easier to sneak in a small tree—and cheaper to decorate.”  
  
Gojyo regarded him. “You know, sometimes you are not stupid.”  
  
Goku gave him a very toothy smile. “Sometimes, you are not an asshole.”  
  
Gojyo punched him in the arm and then they both laughed. He gave Shakujou a flick, and seconds later a three foot high section of the nearest tree fell to the ground with a muffled thud. After shaking the snow off, Gojyo bundled it with some twine, and then Goku hefted it up onto his shoulder. To save time, they agreed that Goku would take the tree back to the inn and talk to the innkeeper, while Gojyo would buy some decorations.  
  
The selection wasn’t the best, but Gojyo wasn’t going to be picky, and he lucked out when one of the merchants he had helped earlier gave him a deal on a box of ornaments that had some nicks and scratches. He spent a little extra to get a star that looked just like the one they’d seen the night before.  
  
Goku met him outside the merchant’s stall. “We’re all good with the tree,” he said, “and the innkeeper said it was okay with him as long as we clean everything up before we leave. He said we can hide everything in the back storeroom.” He poked at a few of the brightly colored balls inside the box. “These are pretty!”  
  
“Now we can buy presents,” Gojyo said, and he gave Goku a generous handful of coins. “Here’s your half of the rest of the money.”  
  
“Awesome,” Goku said, and he shoved the money into his pocket. “See you at dinner!”  
  
Gojyo spent the next hour roaming the market; he picked up a tin of Hakkai’s favorite tea, then spent way too much time in a tiny bookshop, perusing the shelves while keeping a nervous eye on the door just in case Hakkai should wander in. While he was paying for his purchase there Gojyo noticed a graphic novel compilation of one of Goku’s favorite comics, and he decided to buy it for the monkey as a thank-you for his help. A nearby woodworker’s shop had a cool set of little painted Christmas trees that all nested inside each other, right down to a tiny tree the size of the top part of his thumb, which opened to reveal a paper with a Christmas greeting on it. It was a silly thing to buy, but Gojyo liked it and it was small enough that Hakkai could pack it away without any trouble.  
  
It dawned on him that he should probably get something for Sanzo too, mostly because he’d get Looks from both Hakkai and Goku if he didn’t. A trip to the grocery store took care of His Pissiness—plus wrapping paper—and Gojyo made it back to the inn just as the kitchen staff was starting to prepare dinner. One of the cooks waved him toward the storeroom, and Gojyo quickly took care of wrapping his gifts. He left the rest of the wrapping paper next to a couple of bags that were obviously Goku’s, and headed upstairs to join the others.  
  
He’d go over deployment plans with Goku later; right now, he wanted to kick back, have a beer, and evade questions about what he’d been doing all day.

  
  
* * *

  
  
“What the fresh hell is this?” Sanzo stood in the doorway of the shared room, brows drawn together in a scowl. “Why is there a tree in our room?”  
  
“It’s Christmas, Sanzo!” Goku pushed past him and grabbed his hand, pulling him into the room. “C’mon!”  
  
Hakkai stood perfectly still, his hand still on the doorknob, mouth slightly agape as he stared at the tree that stood just beneath the room’s window.  
  
Gojyo and Goku had managed to get everything into the room during breakfast, alternately making excuses to leave the table—although Goku’s lack of imagination managed to set Sanzo off, earning him a hard swat with the fan and Sanzo grumbling, ’What’s wrong with you? Nobody has to piss that many times!’  
  
But their hard work had paid off. The little tree might be a little crooked, but it was definitely festive. Colored lights twinkled behind the ornaments that hung precariously on the branches, and Gojyo had tried to turn all the ornaments to show their best, undamaged sides. A small pile of gifts, some wrapped better than others, surrounded the tree’s trunk, and a bright silver star perched  at the very top, almost glowing with the reflected lights below.  
  
Like the other day, Gojyo saw the lights of the tree reflected in Hakkai’s monocle, and he smiled. It was almost impossible to surprise Hakkai, but they’d done it.  
  
Hakkai’s gaze sought Gojyo’s. “You did this?”  
  
“Yeah,” Gojyo said, “me and the monkey. I thought you needed a little Christmas.” He held out a hand. “C’mon.”  
  
He and Goku passed out their gifts, and Goku grinned when Gojyo handed him a package. “I got somethin’ for you, too,” Goku said, and he gave Gojyo a messily wrapped box.  
  
Sanzo eyed the gift Gojyo gave him with considerable suspicion.  
  
“Go ahead, open it,” Gojyo said. “Or are you chicken?”  
  
Sanzo glared at him, and then pulled apart the wrapping paper to reveal a large bottle of mayonnaise. He promptly chucked it at Gojyo’s head.  
  
Gojyo caught it neatly. “Good thing I got plastic,” he said, laughing. “C’mon, we all know you like to put this shit on everything, and this is in a nice squeeze bottle.” He tossed it back to Sanzo, who put it next to a carton of cigarettes that had come from Goku.  
  
They made short work of opening the rest of the gifts, and Gojyo had to admit that Goku had done a pretty good job; he’d gotten Sanzo cigarettes and a new lighter, a leather map case for Hakkai, and what looked like a chew toy for Hakuryuu. The sharpening stone that Goku had given him was surprisingly good quality, and would definitely come in handy for keeping a sharp edge on his Shakujou.  
  
He watched Hakkai examine his gifts, and the whole crazy day before was worth it when Hakkai opened his tin of tea, took a deep sniff, and signed contentedly. “You like your presents?” he asked.  
  
Hakkai nodded. He re-capped the tin and brushed his fingers over the ‘Campfire Cooking’ book in his lap. “Wherever did you find this book? I thought I’d thoroughly gone through the shop in town.”  
  
“The guy saw me looking through the cookbooks,” Gojyo said, “and he asked me if I was looking for anything special. I told him we have to rough it a lot, and he got that book out of the back for me.”  
  
“This whole thing is ridiculous,” Sanzo said, and he rose from the edge of his bed. “I’m going down to get my newspapers.” He snagged his reading glasses from his bedside table and left the room.  
  
“Wait up, Sanzo! I’ll come too, I can read my new comic!” Goku grabbed his book and ran after Sanzo.  
  
Gojyo laughed and sat down on the floor next to the tree. “He says it’s ridiculous, but you don’t see him giving anything back.” He patted the threadbare rug in front of him. “Come on down and enjoy your tree.”  
  
Hakkai chuckled as he joined Gojyo on the floor. “I think Goku was very sensible, actually, in giving Sanzo practical gifts.” He set his gifts under the tree. “Thank you for doing this, Gojyo, the tree is lovely. I feel a bit embarrassed, though, because I don’t have any gifts for you.”  
  
Gojyo had been expecting that response to come up. “You give me gifts every day, man. You feed me, mend my clothes when some idiot demon claws them up, and heal my sorry ass when I get hurt. And you keep me from punching Sanzo’s lights out when he gets snippy.”  
  
Hakkai smiled.  
  
Gojyo immediately pressed his advantage. “See? Right there, that’s my present.”  
  
“Now you’re being silly,” Hakkai said.  
  
Gojyo decided that the pink that stained Hakkai’s cheeks was adorable. “I have one more present for you,” he said, and he reached under the tree for the gift he’d tucked away against the wall.  
  
“Really now, Gojyo—”  
  
“Here,” Gojyo said, and he placed the small packet in Hakkai’s hands. He watched Hakkai unwrap the gift.  
  
“It’s a tree,” Hakkai said, turning it in his hands.  
  
“Your powers of observation amaze me,” Gojyo said. “Yeah, it’s a tree. Open it.”  
  
“Open the tree?”  
  
Gojyo laughed and pointed at the almost invisible seam at the center. “It opens here.”  
  
Each little wooden tree had brightly painted decorations, each in a different color scheme. Hakkai admired each one before he opened it to reveal the next, and a few moments later he held up the last small tree. “These are beautiful,” Hakkai said. “The craftsman did an amazing job in making these.”  
  
“I thought it was small enough that you can pack it and it won’t take up too much room,” Gojyo said, “and it can be your own personal Christmas tree.”  
  
Hakkai’s gaze met his, and Gojyo saw a whole lot going on behind that good green eye, way too much for him to even think of trying to unpack at the moment. Hakkai had always been a ‘still waters run deep’ kind of guy, but right now the waters were pretty turbulent. Gojyo just waited, and let Hakkai work his way through it.  
  
After a few moments, Gojyo pointed to the tiny tree. “It opens, too.”  
  
Hakkai pulled apart the two halves with exquisite care, and then he pulled out the little tube of paper that was tucked inside, and unrolled it.  
  
Gojyo watched Hakkai’s lips move as he read the paper. “What does it say?” he prompted.  
  
“It says, ‘Look Up,’” Hakkai said, and he looked up.  
  
Gojyo leaned over and kissed him. A huff of laughter escaped his throat at Hakkai’s gasp of surprise, but then Hakkai kissed him back and for a few suspended moments Gojyo was only aware of the warm lips that moved against his, the teasing touch of Hakkai’s tongue, and the long-awaited, yet long-familiar promise of something much, much more.  
  
“Merry Christmas,” Gojyo whispered against Hakkai’s mouth, and kissed him again.


End file.
